Perception Isn't Always Reality

[Paramus]

They were not 38 straight points better, not even close. That was quitting at it's finest. Back in the day when we were rolling over teams by 5 or 6 touchdowns, do we really believe they were scrapping to the end like they had in the first quarter of games? Hardly. Nice of you to be positive toward UCLA, but a 10-3, 6-3 team in the Pac 10 wasn't some incredible juggernaut.

Yes, UCLA turned out to be a pretty pedestrian team by season's end. But on the day the played UNL, they were great. We just did not match up well with them. I'll bet if you ask the UNL players who played that game, they would tell you hands down they never quit. They just got beat.

UCLA got a touchdown just before halftime to close it to 21-10. They took momentum into the half. They made halftime adjustments on defense (7 in the box) and UNL only got 130 yards in the 2nd half. UCLA scored 28 points in the 3rd quester mostly because UNL could not get a 1st down. It was an execution thing, not an effort thing.

The players and coaches spoke of it after the game....

"Defensive end Randy Gregory said the Bruins “started hitting our B gaps” in the run game and figured out the Huskers’ four-man pass rush scheme. Pelini said young players lost sight of their responsibilities and stopped playing their assigned roles. Defensive line coach Rick Kaczenski said linemen started “peeking into the backfield” and getting beat by UCLA blockers. Nebraska’s young defense then whiffed repeatedly on chances to corral the suddenly slippery Bruins after the initial point of contact.

“You can’t play good defense that way,” Pelini said. “We missed tackle after tackle after tackle in that second half.”

The Huskers’ offense also lost its way, gaining 135 yards over the last two quarters. NU offensive coordinator Tim Beck said UCLA placed seven players in the box and took away some of the interior running plays. So quarterback Taylor Martinez threw 35 passes. He completed 21 and threw three first-half touchdowns — including two picture-perfect fade routes — but hit just 10 of 19 passes in the second half for 87 yards. He was sacked twice and hurried often."

Full article if you want to be informed....

http://dataomaha.com/huskers/history/game/2013-9-14-ucla

 

[huskernut]

I'm pretty uninterested in Pelini vs. Riley. All I know is we better look a whole lot tougher on both sides of the lines going forward or nothing is getting any better.

 

[Circus Boy]

Don't know if we're soft or not. But I wince when watching the hits made in championship games in the 1970s and 1990s. You can hear and almost feel the ferocity. Different eras, I guess.

 

[utsker]

I'm pretty uninterested in Pelini vs. Riley. All I know is we better look a whole lot tougher on both sides of the lines going forward or nothing is getting any better.

Yup! Not just look tougher, but play tougher.

 

[Greatest Fan of All]

Yep, UCLA got on a roll and we were not going to stop them no matter how hard we tried. Their QB played lights out. I give UCLA full credit for that one. They played a great game.

Gee, I'm wondering why that logic doesn't apply to every game we get destroyed in? Tosu, Iowa and Tennessee got on a roll and we were not going to stop them no matter how hard we tried...see what I did there? LOL.

 

[Suhperman]

I've been accused on countless occasions of obsessing over Bo (not true). I can say with great certainty that he didn't even enter my mind when posting this thread, so it would be much appreciated if everyone could stick to the OP: Is Riley a soft coach or has it just appeared to be that way on occasion due to a lack of talent at his disposal?

 

[SoCalRed]

I've been accused on countless occasions of obsessing over Bo (not true). I can say with great certainty that he didn't even enter my mind when posting this thread, so it would be much appreciated if everyone could stick to the OP: Is Riley a soft coach or has it just appeared to be that way on occasion due to a lack of talent at his disposal?

Is HE soft? No, but his preferred offense isn't necessarily tough. Seriously, you have to be able o wear down defenses against the most competitive teams. This we lose late to Wisconsin and Iowa (both of which have out-toughed) us the last several seasons.

 

[ShortSideOption]

UCLAs OC was notorious for putting his trips personnel to the boundary to force defenses to have more guys to the shorter side of the field and in turn less guys to cover more space on the wide side of the field. All UCLA did was flip their offensive formation And have the trips to the wide side to put greater stress on Gerry who had to defend the slot and was responsible for a gap in the run game since we were 2 high safety every play. Their coach adjusted, we didn't, Gerry was being told he had to make a play that was impossible, that's how you get people to give up.

 

[Huskerthom]

All UCLA did was flip their offensive formation to put greater stress on Gerry who had to defend the slot and was responsible for a gap in the run game since we were 2 high safety every play. Their coach adjusted, we didn't, Gerry was being told he had to make a play that was impossible, that's how you get people to give up.

Sounds about right to me.

 

[LarstheRed]

UCLAs OC was notorious for putting his trips personnel to the boundary to force defenses to have more guys to the shorter side of the field and in turn less guys to cover more space on the wide side of the field. All UCLA did was flip their offensive formation And have the trips to the wide side to put greater stress on Gerry who had to defend the slot and was responsible for a gap in the run game since we were 2 high safety every play. Their coach adjusted, we didn't, Gerry was being told he had to make a play that was impossible, that's how you get people to give up.

You mean they weren't a great team that completely outclassed us? That's not what I heard from a very knowledgeable source.

 

[Paramus]

UCLAs OC was notorious for putting his trips personnel to the boundary to force defenses to have more guys to the shorter side of the field and in turn less guys to cover more space on the wide side of the field. All UCLA did was flip their offensive formation And have the trips to the wide side to put greater stress on Gerry who had to defend the slot and was responsible for a gap in the run game since we were 2 high safety every play. Their coach adjusted, we didn't, Gerry was being told he had to make a play that was impossible.

So the UCLA offense started kicking our butt in the 3rd quarter because their coach made adjustments and ours didn't. I agree. It was not about effort. It was about coaching and execution.

What you are saying is that no matter how hard our players tried, the Huskers were not going to stop UCLA's offesne in the 3rd quarter...only coaching adjustments could do that. You are correct! Thank you for validating my point of view!

And you did not mention UCLA's defensive adjustments. We scored 21 points in the 1st half but had no 1st downs in the 3rd quarter.

They beat us 28-0 in the 3rd quarter due to both offensive AND defensive adjustments. That pretty much sums it up.

 

[Paramus]

What is the common factor in the 3 not so mentally tough games? It seems pretty simple to explain why we didn't play those with the heart one would hope, but not having the key player either on the field at all, or in a position to play close to his potential because of injury can suck the life out of a squad, especially when they don't have faith in the guy backing him up.

I'd hope to see better mental toughness going forward, but I'd also hope to have enough depth to have backups who teammates have some confidence in.

Wow, you may be onto something there. Our worst game in 2015...the one where mental toughness seemed to be absent....was the Purdue game where TA did not play. TA's toughness and leadership was probably more valuable than most people realize.

With a healthy TA, we were one successful overtime TD score away from beating Wisconsin in Madison. Was TA unhealthy for the tOSU game? I don't recall. I don't think a healthy TA would have made much difference in that game. tOSU never had to punt.

 

[ShortSideOption]

You mean they weren't a great team that completely outclassed us? That's not what I heard from a very knowledgeable source.

I think it was just like any other time we played a team with similar talent, our coaches either had it figured out (Mizzou 2009, Washington 2010) or they didn't and couldn't adjust and we got housed (Wisconsin 2011, Wisconsin 2012, UCLA 2013, Iowa 2013, Wisconsin 2014).

 

[Paramus]

I think it was just like any other time we played a team with similar talent, our coaches either had it figured out (Mizzou 2009, Washington 2010) or they didn't and couldn't adjust and we got housed (Wisconsin 2011, Wisconsin 2012, UCLA 2013, Iowa 2013, Wisconsin 2014).

Exactly! However, inspiration plays into it as well. In 2013, UCLA came out in the 3rd quarter on a mission....and their QB played a marvelous game as well.

 

[Paramus]

so it would be much appreciated if everyone could stick to the OP: Is Riley a soft coach or has it just appeared to be that way on occasion due to a lack of talent at his disposal?

OK, back to the OP. Is Riley a soft coach? I don't know. I never played for him.

His less talented OSU teams beat some great teams and at times they lost to some patsies. I would like to see MR's teams be consistently tough and play up to their potential every time out like Osborne's teams did. Easier said than done I suppose.